Kathy's Pit Stop

Johnson takes points lead after wild race

That was a long race, a lot longer than it should have been, with two red flags and a bunch of cautions.

Jimmie Johnson took the points lead with a third place finish and a lot of Chasers have a big amount of points to make up now.

The biggest question I've heard was why NASCAR didn't call the race during the second red flag.  They were past halfway and while I'm usually in agreement that they should run a race to it's fullest, there was no way they were going to get all the laps in, in fact they only ran to lap 210 and it was called then because it was getting too dark. 

Fans hate it when they run to just halfway, but the timing of the storm that hit and how long it took to dry the track, they should have just decided to either call it or run the rest of the laps on Monday, then they could have gotten the rest of the laps in instead of what happened today.  I realize that's always a tough decision for NASCAR to make and not everyone will be happy.

As far as the points, only two drivers are close, Gordon is 6 points back and Bowyer is 9 points back, everyone else is over 100 points back, which is going to make Dega even more interesting as far as points go.  Seven Chase drivers were involved in incidents in this race, which didn't help them any, but with Dega next week, who knows what will happen.

Your thoughts on the race, rain, points, etc.?

Should NASCAR have a penalty system similar to other sports?

Penalties in NASCAR have always been a hot topic, especially the way penalties are handed down and what those penalties are.  I have to say that NASCAR has tried to be consistent when a precedent has been set previously, but most fans still see NASCAR as being inconsistent with penalties.

NASCAR, unlike other sports, doesn't have a set system of penalties that are spelled out.  It can be difficult, but the basic penalties could be spelled out and a set amount in a fine and points could be stated, other new penalties could then be added as they come about.  Most of the time penalties fall under "actions detrimental to stock car racing" or parts that don't conform to NASCAR's standards.  I think it's something that could be done.

Troy Aikman, one of the former owners of Hall of Fame Racing, was surprised at NASCAR's penalty system, the fact that penalties are not spelled out and he didn't understand why they weren't.  Yes, NASCAR is different than other sports, but they can come up with a penalty system that is spelled out for the teams and fans so that they can understand.

Also, repeat offenders should get a stiffer penalty and it shouldn't matter whether it's within the same season or not, a repeat offender should have a stiffer fine and/or points taken away, they shouldn't be able to get away with big things once a year just because.

Your thoughts?  Should NASCAR have a set system for penalties and what should those penalties be?

Roush Fenway to appeal penalty, claiming it's "unfair"

Carl Edwards winning car failed post-race inspection on Sunday and NASCAR issued a 25 point penalty for Edwards.  Roush also lost 25 owner points and Osborne (Edwards crew chief) was fined $25,000 and put on probation. 

Standard for the infraction going by past instances this year, but Roush Fenway issued a statement basically saying that the penalty was "unfair" to Edwards as a Chaser.  This is the statement issued by Roush Fenway PR -

"We have the misfortune of violating a rule which makes no sense. It was promulgated to address restrictor plate races, not downforce races. I say misfortune because we are being penalized for a violation that actually impaired the car's performance. We intend to appeal the unfair assessment of the point's penalty. What is unfair is that Carl is receiving a penalty that is 250% greater in its effect than a similarly assessed penalty against a non-'Chase' driver. 'Chase' drivers are competing for a total of 1,950 points. All drivers competed for 5,070 points in the first 26 races. Do the math. The net effect is that a 25 point penalty falls unfairly hard on a 'Chase' contender. That's simply not right. To equalize the penalty impact on all competitors not more than 10 points should have been taken from a 'Chase' contender."

In essence, they are saying a couple of things, one that the penalty itself shouldn't be a penalty because of when it came about and what it was initially intended for.  But, I don't remember hearing them complaining about others being caught by this rule infraction and saying it wasn't right for them to be penalized.

Second, they seem to think that the Chase drivers should have a different set of penalties in the final ten races because they are racing for a different amount of points?  Give me a break.  Many drivers have been caught with this penalty, they are usually given time for it to come up and if it doesn't, they get penalized.  Other drivers, Kyle Busch and Johnny Sauter had the same points penalty for this same infraction, Brian Vickers had this infraction in post-qualifying inspection and wasn't even allowed to race. 

The Chasers already get the most airtime, now they want NASCAR to come up with a special penalty system for them?  I don't think so.  The car failed inspection, he's not out of the championship hunt because of the penalty, take the penalty and move on!

Your thoughts? 

Coors Light replacing Budweiser as he Official Beer of NASCAR

It was announced today, that starting in 2008, Coors Light will be the Official Beer of NASCAR.

Coors Light entered into a five year deal that grants them "category exclusivity", not exactly sure what that means, it wasn't explained further, but Budweiser will remain as sponsor for the #9 Dodge and will still run the Bud Shootout in 2008.  At first, questions about the Bud Shootout being renamed or dropped altogether came about, but that was quickly addressed saying that it's a separate Daytona International Speedway entitlement.

Starting in 2008 the now Bud Pole Award will be renamed to the Coors Light Pole Award.  I'm so used to the Bud Pole Award, that'll take time to get used to, but that's the way it goes in the ever changing NASCAR world.

Coors figured this would get them better exposure than shopping around for another team, as they said, it won't matter who wins, they get the exposure every week rather than counting on their car winning the race.

Let's just hope that this "official" sponsorship and "exclusivity" thing doesn't go to their heads and that they don't start grumbling about other sponsors in the sport like Sunoco did with Shell.

Your thoughts?

The Monster made a mess of things at Dover

Wow, what a mess at Dover.  I think Edwards and Gordon were the only ones not bit by the monster today.  Edwards was able to hold off a hungry Mark Martin on the last restart and sailed on to a win.

The rest of the Chasers weren't that lucky and the points got shook up a bit.  Only six cars finished on the lead lap, mainly because of the leaders lead and green flag stops.

I think Gordon was the only one besides Edwards to not have bad luck or get caught up in someone else's mess. 

Some just had bad handling cars and got caught a lap down early because of it, like Tony Stewart and Jeff Burton.

Denny Hamlin hurt himself when he ran over Kyle Petty, Petty wasn't too happy either and did "talk" (animatedly I might add) to Hamlin about it. 

Matt Kenseth was doing great, lead the most laps and still had a chance to catch Edwards and get the lead back, but he blew his engine on lap 374.

Then there were the ones caught in the big wreck on lap 386,  twelve cars involved, including four in the Chase, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson and Martin Truex Jr, although Kyle Busch's and Johnson's cars weren't too badly hurt.

And then there was Kevin Harvick, who seems to still have that black cloud following him.  Another flat tire, as if he needed that, but if that wasn't bad enough, his crew didn't get the wheels tight twice, which ended up putting him down a total of four laps because of those mistakes.  When it rains it pours, as Harvick said on the radio once during a caution - is there anything else left that can go wrong with the car?  That kind of sums up his luck lately.

The points are closer at the top, Gordon in 1st, and at the far end, Hamlin in 12th, is 158 points behind.  Not an insurmountable amount, but a big uphill battle.

Your thoughts?   

The #28 should NOT be brought back

With all the talk of the #88 going to Hendrick Motorsports for Jr., that leaves Yates with the need for a new number.  Well, rumor has it that Yates is going to try and bring back the #28. 

Most people will associate the #28 with Ricky Rudd, and while I have nothing against him personally, he shouldn't have been in that number either, nor Ernie Irvan.

The #28, in my eyes, was Davey Allison, no one else.  When he was tragically killed in the helicopter crash in 1993, the number should have been put to rest.  But NASCAR doesn't "retire" numbers and it's up to the owner whether to run it or not.  Yates continued to run the #28 until Rudd left, then he "retired" it.  Why he decided to then and not back when Davey died is beyond me, but the number was put to rest so to speak.  Now they want to bring it back with Travis Kvapil.

As far as I'm concerned, the #28 shouldn't be back on the track, just like the #3.   Yes, some fans would like to see the #3, but I think most Dale Sr. fans would like for Childress to keep it retired, it was Dale Sr.

I was definitely not happy when I read about this and I hope to God that they don't lure Texaco away from Ganassi, as Davey drove the black #28 Texaco, it's bad enough they are going to use the number.

I know most of you probably won't really care about this topic, but this is something that I had to get out.

Your thoughts?  Should some numbers stay retired in honor of a driver?

Earnhardt Jr., the #88 and Mountain Dew/Amp and National Guard

It was announced this afternoon that Dale Earnhardt Jr. will drive the #88 with Mountain Dew/Amp and National Guard as sponsors at their press conference in Dallas.  As an added touch, everyone at the table was drinking AMP Energy Drink, much like you see when a driver is being interviewed.

I don't know about the Jr. fans, but I'm not thrilled with the number or the style of it.  I was kind of hoping for the #81.  While the #88 isn't a bad number, I usually associate it with Dale Jarrett, so it will take getting used to.  The style is different too, while they are slightly slanted the numbers are fat, at least that's the way they looked in the picture. 

I don't think the Jr. fans will really care though, they root for their driver, not a car number or sponsor, it will just take some getting used to when they were so use to the #8 Budweiser.

Your thoughts?

It's official - Kasey Kahne and Budweiser in 2008 and other news

Budweiser and GEM made the announcement this morning, Kahne will be the new driver of the #9 red Bud car in NASCAR starting in 2008.  While GEM and Kahne have struggled this year, Budweiser apparently has confidence that it will only take time for them to get back on top and be competitive again. 

Kahne's popularity had a lot to do with it too.  While he may not be NASCAR's most popular driver, he is one of the popular drivers in NASCAR and has the marketability to sell products.  While beer isn't the first thing that comes to mind with Kahne, I think it'll all work out in the end, it just may take some getting used to.  Don't get me wrong, I like Kahne, it's just that beer is not a product that comes to mind with him, maybe it's his quiet, boy next door image, I don't know, but I'm sure it'll all work out for the good for all parties involved.

In other news, Jr.'s number and sponsor are to be announced tomorrow, I'm sure you'll see it all over the news.  It is speculated that AMP Energy Drink will come on board and that it may be multiple sponsors instead of just one primary sponsor.  Rumors have the 88 and 81 as being the numbers, but with all the news about Yates selling the 88 to Hendrick, I'm guessing that is what the number will be.  Don't understand it, but if that's what they want.

The Busch Series is still looking for a title sponsor and according to NASCAR, they will run even if a sponsor is not found, but don't know what they will do about the name.  I don't see how they can really run without a sponsor because NASCAR isn't going to want to give up that much of their big bucks.

Oh, and NASCAR is coming up with what they think is a brilliant idea to give the Busch Series (or whatever it will be called) their own identity....new cars.  They think that if they change the cars, it will have its own identity again and will stop being referred to as "Cup Lite."  I don't think it'll work, but that's their great idea to fix it.

The idea is to go to Chevy Camaros, Dodge Challengers, Ford Mustangs and an unnamed Toyota with a hopeful target date being 2009.  I honestly don't think new cars will change things.  NASCAR won't do what they need to give them back their identity, limit the Cup drivers.  I'm not saying no Cup drivers at all, but limit them to the amount of races, don't let them take the points and limit the winnings, that will make the teams run the developmental drivers that we lack in the Busch Series.  Oh and we can't forget they need to lower the costs of the teams, it's no wonder the big sponsors want Cup drivers in the cars for how much they have to pay out to put the cars in the races, it's too damn expensive for a lower series.

And if they love the "fan draw" that the Cup drivers bring, have some special race, kind of like the All-Star that the Cup Series has.  Have some Cup drivers (only a handful, don't want the whole field) and then take the top drivers in the Busch Series.  Run it like a special race, for money and bragging rights only, no points and recognize the top Busch driver if a Cup driver wins the race.

Your thoughts?

Bowyer finally gets his first win

Clint Bowyer surprised everyone on Friday by getting the pole, then he backed it up today getting his first ever Cup Series win.

It was obvious from the start that Clint Bowyer had the car to beat and while he didn't lead all the laps, he led the most laps and jumped from 12th in the standings to 4th and only 15 points behind the leader.

All but three of the Chase drivers did well, with Gordon, Stewart, Kyle Busch, Truex, Johnson and Kenseth rounding out the top seven.  Edwards finished 12th, Hamlin 15th, Harvick 17th, Burton 18th and Kurt Busch 25th.

Harvick, Burton and Kurt Busch had troubles that they just couldn't improve on.  Harvick had a tight car, which was something they could deal with, but flat tires are not and that's what got them back there and they just couldn't bounce back from that.  Burton, it seems like it was just the car, it wasn't that good in practice and apparently they couldn't improve it enough to get it better during the race either.  Kurt Busch had engine troubles, they thought they were possibly down a cylinder after running in the top five, he was never really able to recover.  While all three struggled and finished one lap down, it took them until late in the race to actually go a lap down.

As it stands now,

• Johnson and Gordon are tied for the lead
• Stewart - 10 points back
• Bowyer - 15 points back
• Kyle Busch - 35 points back
• Truex - 40 points back
• Kenseth - 54 points back
• Edwards - 63 points back
• Hamlin - 82 points back
• Harvick - 88 points back
• Burton - 91 points back
• Kurt Busch - 102 points back

It's not over yet for these guys who didn't do well in this race, there is still 9 more races to go and they can step it up and get themselves to the front, so I wouldn't be counting anyone out yet.

On to Dover next week and see who can tame the monster.

Your thoughts?

Why can't Ganassi just be honest?

It seems as if Ganassi is bringing in another open-wheeler to the NASCAR fold.  First off, I have no problem with them (open-wheel drivers) wanting to come to NASCAR, what I do have a problem with is the way Ganassi went about it.

He didn't renew his option on Stremme's contract because of "not knowing" whether they would have a sponsor for next year, obviously  he wasn't telling the truth since he's wheelin' and dealin' and just about has Dario Franchitti signed for a Cup ride.

This isn't the first time he's done a driver wrong, in my opinion, he kept Mears hanging for a couple of years, not knowing if he would have a ride or not before Mears left for Hendrick Motorsports.

Once the deal is done, Franchitti will get some seat time in ARCA and the Busch Series so he'll be ready to compete for Rookie of the Year in 2008.

Like I said, I have no problem with the driver, more power to anyone who wants to move up and into NASCAR, I just think the way Ganassi went about it sucked.

Your thoughts?